Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, just stop playing with our hearts!
Only days after they officially filed for divorce, the couple was seen leaving church together on Easter Sunday, smiling and laughing like nothing is wrong and they don't have a care in the world.
Ben Affleck and Jen Garner leaving Easter Church as BFF
Ben Affleck and Jen Garner leaving Easter Church as BFF
Even though they separated and announced the end of their marriage almost two years ago, Affleck and Garner have been toying with our emotions ever since, going on dates, looking insanely, stupidly happy together and remaining coyly silent about all the rumors saying they would reconcile. It seemed like a big hint that they never actually filed for divorce, until BOOM. On Thursday, Garner submitted her filing. Affleck filed his response the same day. In their filing, they said they would work together to end their marriage amicably. Um, obviously. They're clearly still best friends and they should still be in love and BRB we're sobbing.
As of now, the last sliver of hope we have remaining is the fact that Affleck and Garner are still living on the same property, albeit in different houses. Affleck had moved out, but since he completed rehab for alcohol addiction, he's returned to the property to live in the guesthouse. A source has said that arrangement is coming to an end, though, so BRB again, sobbing some more.
"Ben will move out and is looking for a property close by so they can continue to co-parent as they have been," the insider said. "He will move out when he finds the right place."
Call it royal wedding-adjacent: Pippa Middleton's nuptials to James Matthews are the most anticipated since her sister Kate said her vows six years ago. We've got the deets on Pippa's dress, her venue, her guest list, her wedding party and even what kind of champagne will be flowing.
Princess Charlotte will be very involved
Multiple sites are reporting that Princess Charlotte, who turns two next month, will be one of Pippa's bridesmaids. Still no word on whether she took part in the booze-fueled hen party Kate and Pippa threw on the slopes of the French Alps.
Her gown will be very different from Kate's
Pippa has none of the restrictions Kate had to deal with when searching for her perfect gown: She doesn't have to look the part of demure virginal princess, for example, nor does the fate of the entire British fashion industry rest on her (possibly) lace-covered shoulders. Designer Giles Deacon was spotted at Pippa's house with armfuls of dresses last November, and his Instagram feed is full of clues about the shape her gown may be taking, based on his other designs. It remains to be seen whether Pippa's butt will be the focus of this dress, as it was at her sister's wedding.
Pippa's ceremony will be held on May 20 at St. Mark's Church in Englefield, Berkshire — a modest little country church close to her parents' house, where her reception will be held. It's a lovely venue, and the ceremony definitely will not be broadcast to nearly every country in the world. While Kate invited nearly 2,000 guests to her nuptials, Pippa is thought to be nipping her guest list to a "mere" 400.
Meghan Markle is not invited (sort of)
We're still more than a little bummed that Pippa isn't marrying Prince Harry. Maybe she is too, because we hear that Harry's current princess-wannabe is not invited to this shindig. But it's nothing personal — the couple is just enforcing a strict "no ring, no bring" policy for dates to keep the guest list in check, plus, it's royal protocol for significant others to be left out of the ceremony unless they're engaged or married to someone on the guest list.
Markle is, however, invited to attend the less formal party after the ceremony. People magazine reports that she'll be Harry's date, which is just one more sign of how serious their relationship is becoming.
Kate won't be her matron of honor
It's a bit surprising, since Pippa and Kate are like peas and carrots, but Kate probably won't stand up for her sister at the wedding like Pippa did at the royal wedding. Reason? Kate doesn't want to steal the show the way Pippa's butt did on her own special day. "Kate would upstage her sister," royal expert Judy Wade told People. "If your sister is a future queen, she is going to upstage the bride and draw attention. Kate would want to be in the background as much as possible."
Kate may join their brother James for a reading, though, and we're still holding our breath for George as a ring bearer or Charlotte as a flower girl!
No red cups here, and you can forget the modern boho farm vibe while you're at it.
"It will be blingtastic," a source close to the couple told The Mirror. "The best champagne, Krug or Bollinger, and a specially devised champagne cocktail. Pippa and James have a penchant for Blanc de Noir Tillington 2009 from Nyetimber at £75 a bottle — and wonderful food. No expense will be spared. This isn't a bangers-and-mash, sitting-on-hay-bales affair. Pippa is hardly a floaty bohemian type."
Only a little less than two months to go until those wedding bells ring! We can’t wait to see the pics!
After being president of the effing United States, there aren't many jobs you can take that would be a step up. That's why after eight years leading the country, Barack Obama has done the only thing he can naturally do: He's become an Instagram husband.
Barack Obama is now an Instagram Husband and its perf 1
Barack Obama is now an Instagram Husband and its perf 1
For the less internet-aware folks out there, an Instagram husband exists solely to photograph his wife in exotic locales and from flattering angles, making sure the crop and filter on the photo are just right to make it look super-bangin' and get all those likes. It's an important job and requires a steady hand and talented eye — and eight years of prior experience as commander-in-chief apparently doesn't hurt.
Barack Obama is now an Instagram Husband and its perf 2
Barack Obama is now an Instagram Husband and its perf 2
Barack Obama is now an Instagram Husband and its perf 3
Barack Obama is now an Instagram Husband and its perf 3
Michelle Obama really needs an Instagram husband right now because she and Barack have spent basically every moment since they left the White House vacationing far, far away from the U.S. Right now, that means they're just low-key hanging out on billionaire Larry Ellison's yacht in French Polynesia along with their BFFs Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen and Oprah. Oh, and nobody freak out, but Beyoncé and Jay Z might be involved as well.
Currently, Michelle is letting down every single one of her 12.5 million Instagram followers by not posting a single shot from her epic tropical photo sesh, but it's only a matter of time, because as the old adage goes, if one does not Instagram her vacation, did it even really happen?
If you’ve somehow managed to dodge the podcast craze until now (if that’s the case, I really want to know what your commute and/or exercise routines look like), here are three to start with — all hosted by folks who aren’t afraid to dive headfirst into topics around reproductive and sexual health that are seldom talked about or are seldom discussed with honesty, vulnerability and guts.
Pregnant Pause with Zak and Shira
Shira Heisler, 30, and Zak Rosen, 32, have been together for 10 years and recently got married. On Pregnant Pause, they’re tackling the issue of whether or not to have kids, which in itself is a provocative question. Heisler knows she wants to have kids; doing the podcast has solidified it for her. She’s just waiting for Rosen to “get there.” Rosen needs to be persuaded and so the two are talking to everyone they know about parenting — people who have kids on how and why they do it; parents on what it has meant for their relationship with their partner; teenagers who test their parents' sanity on the daily; and on an upcoming episode, people who aren’t going to have kids.
For many couples, having kids isn’t an “if,” but a “when,” but Heisler and Rosen are debating the decision, looking at the parts that are hard and ugly and laying it all bare. They also openly discuss the especially terrible moments that make parents question whether or not it was worth it.
Miscarriages are common. IVF is exhausting and painful and expensive. These are things we theoretically know, even if we haven’t experienced them ourselves, but knowing it doesn’t mean we don’t harbor stigma around them. In Matt and Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure, Doree Shafrir, executive editor at BuzzFeed and author of the novel Startup, and her husband, comedian and writer Matt Mira, document their experiences with IVF. The podcast starts at the beginning of the sixth month of trying to get pregnant to no avail. This time mark was also when the couple started investigating Mira’s low sperm count (which he has no issue with: “I don’t get what the stigma is,” he said), through embryo fertilization, genetic testing and egg retrieval. Along the way, they get even more honest and talk about money (you need a lot of it for IVF), what the process has done to their relationship, how it changes sex and how to talk to pregnant people when you desperately want to be one of them.
The uniqueness of Shafrir and Mira’s podcast isn’t just its content, but how the content itself questions why these topics have been stigmatized in the first place. “Women go into secret internet forums and talk about it there, but they won’t talk about it in public,” said Shafrir. “You would assume women would be more open about it, but they’re not. I started talking about it publicly, and every time I do, a new person texts me and says, I did IVF, so if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here.”
Look, sometimes sex is not great, and that can be true for lots of reasons, most of which include the fact that women are socialized to feel bad about being sexual. In Unscrewed, writer and speaker Jaclyn Friedman and her guests, change-makers like Hanne Blank, Therese Shechter and Elle Chase talk about masturbation, (not) faking orgasms, consent, virginity, having sex that you want and enjoying it and more, all in the name of “unscrewing the sexual culture.”
What’s revolutionary about Unscrewed is how it emphasizes things we think about but are afraid to really look at, especially when they’re shrouded in shame and fear of being abnormal. Is it OK to end a relationship because of differences in sexual desire that you can’t negotiate around as opposed to staying in it even though you’re not getting what you need? (“It’s not just sex,” says Friedman, “it’s sex.”) Can you be a feminist and still have rape fantasies? What if monogamy isn’t working for you?
Friedman goes into corners you might not even have known about and talks about what makes people tick, taking apart not just the social context around issues, but the lives we’re living and how they shape our sexuality and happiness.
If Geena Davis isn't on the top of your shero list, you just don't know enough about her yet. The Academy Award-winning actress, activist and mom hasn't just starred in iconic films like Thelma and Louise and A League of Their Own. She's also fought long and hard for women's equality, both on the playing field and the silver screen. Not to mention that she's been a nationally ranked archer, a member of Mensa and a fluent speaker of Swedish.
On the 25th anniversary of A League of Their Own, we caught up with Davis to discuss what she's passionate about now, including the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which advocates for the fair representation of women in the media, and the Bentonville Film Festival, which focuses on diversity in filmmaking. Sadly, though, we didn't find out the one thing we really, really wanted to know.
SheKnows: OK, I’ve been wondering for 25 years: Did Dottie drop the ball on purpose?
Geena Davis: I’m so sorry, but I will not be putting you out of your misery. I know the answer, but I’m not going to say. I’ve just decided I’m never going to tell.
SK: Does anyone know?
GD:I know!
SK: Have you told anybody?
GD: No! I know, I know. I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to torture you with it. It just makes it more fun that people don’t know.
SK: Why do you think A League of Their Own has become a classic?
GD: I think it’s partly because people, especially women, can feel inspired by the story. People who haven’t been traditionally given a chance to use their skills or shine are given a chance, and they prevail. It’s a very inspiring story.
Also, what I’ve noticed over the years is how many people, mostly women and girls, recognize me from that movie and want to tell me, "I play sports because of that movie." That’s a remarkable achievement for a film to impact people’s lives like that. And it impacted my life like that. I play sports because of that movie.
SK:Really?
GD: I was so tall in high school that I was convinced that I was uncoordinated and not athletic. I was terrified to play any sport at all, no matter how hard they tried to convince me to be on the girls’ basketball team as the tallest kid in class. But I had to learn to play for the film, and it was like a true awakening or rebirth. I always felt, "Oh, God, I wish I took up less space in the world," until sports just dramatically changed my life: "Wow, I feel good about my body, I can do things with it." It just completely changed my self-esteem. I became very involved in encouraging girls to play sports and to try other sports myself.
SK: In the 25 years since A League of Their Own, what do you think has changed in Hollywood for women and what stayed the same?
GD: My short answer is: Nothing. Nothing changed. I was a particularly keen observer over the past 25 years because when Thelma and Louise came out, all the press predicted that this was going to change everything. Now there are going to be so many movies starring women, female buddy pictures, female road trip movies. And then the very next movie I made was A League of Their Own. And it was the exact same thing, where the press was all saying, "This changes everything, there’s going to be so many female sports movies." And neither pretty soon proved to be remotely true. There was nothing — there was no bounce whatsoever by either movie. And profoundly noticeable that there were no female sports movies that came out anytime as a result of that.
So that’s when I started really paying attention, and I still thought, well, maybe things are getting somewhat better. Interviewers were always asking me, "Don’t you think things are getting better for women now?" And at first, I would say yes, because I had those two movies, so I would say, "Yes, of course things are better!" And then I would say, "Well, I don’t know, I think so? It seems like it?" And eventually I would say, "I don’t know, Google it, ask somebody with numbers."
SK: And then you did the actual research.
GD: And then I did the numbers. I did it because I suddenly had a daughter and noticed that there were far more male characters than female characters in little kids’ stuff. I was appalled — what are we doing that for in the 21st century? Why on earth would we teach kids that girls are less important than boys? It just made no sense to me.
So then I did the numbers, and it was horrifying. It was absolutely as bad as I could have thought. The interesting thing that we’ve found with my institute is that the numbers absolutely make a difference as far as onscreen representation. The creators of kids’ media had no idea they were leaving out that many female characters. They were in utter shock that the worlds they were creating were so bereft of female presences.
In many ways, the research is doing the work for us, where even just hearing the numbers is enough to make changes. We’ve yet to leave a meeting where at least somebody hasn’t said, “You just changed my project.” We’re seeing results in movies and TV coming out all the time that we know we affected.
Behind the cameras, there’s a different problem, which I think is not unconscious gender bias. It’s probably categorized more as conscious gender bias. Because everybody’s known the numbers for decades. Nobody’s stunned to hear there are very few female directors, only 4 or 7 percent. Everybody knows, but it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make people say, "Wow! We should change that." Nothing happens. It’s utterly stagnant.
SK: How do you think we change that?
GD: For that to change, people have to make very conscious, deliberate decisions to hire female directors. One sterling example of someone who’s doing that is Ryan Murphy, who has launched a project called Half. He has committed that on every one of his projects, the cast and the crew has to be half female. He said, "I don’t care if I have to train female grips, I will find them and hire them. It’s dumb enough that we’ve been doing it this long, and I’m just not going to do that anymore." We really need people to say, "Enough already. I’m going to conquer my bias whether it’s conscious or unconscious and make this change." Because it’s an absolute embarrassment how few female directors we have.
SK:I have two young daughters, and I’m already running into this problem that you mentioned when you had your daughter. How do you, as a mom, approach the problem of gender imbalance and sexism with your kids at your home?
GD: I decided with my daughter that I would always watch with her, and I could comment on what she was seeing. I also did it when my twin boys were born. I could lean over and say, "Hey, did you notice that there are only boys in that group of kids? Why do you think that is? Do you think girls could do what those boys are doing?" It really does have an impact because now it’s not unconscious. They’re not unconsciously taking in that that’s the way the world works. They’re pointing out that it’s unfair.
SK: Some of your most iconic movies are super feminist, especially A League of Their Own and Thelma and Louise. Have you seen any good feminist films recently, and what do you think makes one?
GD: I would say any film can be called feminist that has female characters who have agency in their life, that are in charge of their fate or do important things or take up half the space. I would consider a film feminist, I don’t care what it’s about, but if the cast was gender balanced, where it would be just as likely that the boss or the best friend or whoever was female. It’s really as simple as showing women being in charge of their destiny and giving female characters a voice. It’s really just showing that women are as important as men. My institute has a T-shirt that says "We’re Fine With Half." Nobody’s trying to take over the world, we’re just fine with half!
SK: What can regular, everyday people do to help with these issues — with gender imbalance and sexism in the media on a day-to-day level?
GD: First of all, I would say how important it is that we stop teaching kids, from the beginning, that boys are more important than girls. It’s the 21st century, you know, let’s go here. We have to show kids that boys and girls share the sandbox equally and do equally interesting things. We’re teaching kids something that we have to try to get rid of later on. Why not just stop filling them with unconscious gender bias?
They can definitely talk about it with their kids, point it out. I usually ruin movies for people because they can’t watch them without counting the female characters anymore. But it’s OK. It must be done. My whole theory is that groups have a very small percentage of women, no matter what sector of society they’re in, whether it’s boards or law partners or Congress, because, partly, we’ve indoctrinated people to see groups with around 20 percent women as normal, and therefore we don’t notice it. So we’ve got to change that image.
Personally, the best way people can help is to donate to my institute. They can also go to my film festival, which is happening May 2-7.
Also, I would say, just take this awareness and notice it now. Notice it everywhere. In advertisements for your favorite products, are women denigrated or objectified in some way? All of that is important. I would rewrite my kids’ books, I would write it in the books for the babysitter!
SK:Do you think it made a difference to have a female director for A League of Their Own?
GD: I don’t know. Penny did a brilliant job, it was just a fantastic example of storytelling, but right before that, Ridley Scott directed Thelma and Louise. Would it have made a difference if a woman had directed it? I don’t know. I don’t know if anyone could have done a better job than Ridley did. While, definitely, we need more female directors, we also need men to step up and identify with female characters and stories about women. We don’t want to create a ghetto where women have to do movies about women. To assume stories about women need to be told by a woman isn’t necessarily true, just as stories about men don’t need a male director.
SK:It seems like, throughout the years, you’ve always taken action after running into problems in your life, like with your film festival and the institute. What advice do you have for women who run into problems and want to change the world?
GD: Well, I mean, I always joke that I take everything too far. If you have the time and the passion, absolutely do it. Women, controvertibly, have shown that a single person can make a huge difference, and all the better if you have people helping you. There’s so many ways to create impact now. Even if you just look at social media and YouTube, you don’t have to wait to make a film until you get financing anymore. You can just make it and put it on YouTube. You don’t have to wait to get a record label, you can just put your songs out there. I think there’s a lot of ways people can impact change without either a tremendous amount of experience or contacts. Put a petition on change.org. There’s so many ways, and I think women are really taking advantage of it.
This dad is winning at fatherhood. The real winner, though, is his 6-year-old daughter Valerie.
Last Friday, Ben Sowards of Utah fielded a phone call from his wife letting him know Valerie had had an accident (of the toilet variety) at school and needed her dad to scoop her up.
Sowards' first thought? "I knew she was mortified, but I thought if I could make her laugh everything would be fine," he said.
Valerie was waiting for her father in the principal's office. When her dad arrived, he asked Valerie if he could borrow her backpack to "hide something." We're not sure if we would have been more mortified or less mortified had we been Valerie. But in the end, she seemed to appreciate her dad's sense of humor (we're guessing the kid's used to it by now).
“She was totally exasperated. But once she saw my pants, I got that look from her where I knew everything was OK. All dads know what look I’m talking about,” Sowards said. “And we just strolled out of the school like nothing was happening.” Cool as cukes, these two.
When he and Valerie arrived home, Sowards' 17-year-old daughter, Lucinda, couldn't resist taking some photos of her dad and sister. (We are so impressed with Valerie being such a good sport in the middle of all this.)
Lucinda posted the photos to Twitter, where the family quickly became a hit — more than 253,000 likes and 62,000 retweets. (That makes them pretty much Twitter royalty.)
Many Twitter users pointed out a similar scene in the film Billy Madison. “I remember the movie and that may have been somewhere in my subconscious,” Sowards said. “But when you’re a parent you work on instinct.” (We don't think Sowards had been waiting to use Billy Madison material he'd tucked away in his parenting toolbox, but you never know.)
Lucinda was not surprised by her dad's splashy way of handling her little sister's situation. Apparently, once Lucinda got a black eye — and her dad FaceTimed her with a matching (painted!) black eye of his own.
If you're worried about little Valerie and all the attention she's gotten for one little accident at school, well, her dad and her older sister say you can relax.
“She’s doing great,” Lucinda said. “She’s learned to laugh about it and thinks what my dad did was hilarious.”
Get ready for your golden years, Ben. We're thinking your daughters will have some Depends gags up their sleeves by then.
As per usual, Keeping Up with the Kardashians revealed itself to be a grand fake-out. The show has always given us a pretty personal look into the Kardashian/Jenner clan. It's definitely far more intimate a portrait of their personal lives than anything pretty much any other celebrity puts out (or ever would be willing to) and with stunning frequency. On the flip side, it's also made them obnoxious AF and provided plenty of fodder for critics ready to take them down a peg from their high and mighty perches.
Much like the infamous (read: very fake and scripted) scene that Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian got caught filming after Kim filed for divorce from her first husband Kris Humphries in which Kim cries to her mom in the back of a car about her potential split from Humphries, on Sunday night's KUWTK episode, "When It Rains, It Pours," Kylie and Kendall Jenner also seemed to have fudged the timeline for the benefit of the show for their fashion line’s recent review in Vogue.
In the episode, Kris Jenner revealed to her youngest daughters the news that Vogue was going to review the girl's new fashion line. This scene appears to have been filmed in mid-September 2016. But Vogue seemed to have come to their annoyingly luxurious Calabasas casa (kasa?) during New York Fashion Week, which was the first week of September. Kendall and Kylie did a Facebook Live interview with Edward Barsamian, the Vogue runway style editor, on Sept. 7, 2016. Something's a bit off here, right?
It’s no shock that any reality show, especially KUWTK is scripted, spliced and full of shit. It’s just odd that they couldn't have made this very real event seem natural. There shouldn’t have been anything to fake.
I know a lot of kids who love the app Musical.ly. My younger daughter used to be a huge fan (and lip-sync star in her own mind). Now? Not so much. And I'm plenty OK with that.
The social media platform lets users share 15-second videos of themselves lip-syncing to popular songs. Like on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, users can post videos, follow others and comment on their posts.
Sounds cute, right? It can be (ask my 13-year-old and 400 of her closest friends). But even if your kids are using the app responsibly, there are users on the platform who are up to no good.
Brenda Jennings recently shared on Facebook a disturbing screen shot of messages her daughter received from a stranger on Musical.ly trolling her child for photos under a "model call" pretense.
musical.ly creep
musical.ly creep
“I’m eating some parenting-flavored crow today and reversing my stance on musical.ly,” Brenda wrote. “It wasn’t the hand gestures or obnoxious song loops or even the swears Anna would always report to me that ended her video career, it was finding that she switched her account to public, had deleted comments, and then this, which I found in her ‘people you don’t know’ mailbox.”
Even though Jennings had been careful to monitor her daughter's online activities and discuss internet danger with her regularly, her daughter went ahead and changed the security settings on her own — a step that allowed the questionable messages through.
“Honestly, my worries were around trolls and bullies,” Jennings said. “I knew I’d be checking up on her activity on the regular. I set rules for her: no identifying info, not even her real first name, no swearing, even in lip sync, private account only, and she had to let me review anyone asking to friend her.”
"I take the blame for not more directly warning her about creeps like this," she continued. "Honestly, I struggle with finding the appropriate way to warn her about predators without crushing her innocence or causing my already anxious kid even more angst. I absolutely want to teach her safety, but don’t want her living in fear.”
That's a desire expressed by most parents we know. But how do we manage, as parents, to teach them about the creeps and the pervs out there without freaking them out at the same time?
Jennings isn't alone in her fears about the app — one father discovered messages to his 8-year-old daughter on Musical.ly, purportedly from another 8-year-old, saying his daughter was "Way too pretty to be single" and "You got me feeling naughty."
And parents, take note: Even if your kid's account on Musical.ly is private, they can still use the app's search feature... and easily find accounts on the platform featuring all kinds of sexual content.
Jennings deleted the app and it's now in the no-fly zone for her daughter — who didn't put up a fuss, interestingly. “Because technically she’d broken other rules of app use (setting her account to public—which is not anything parental controls can prevent—and deleting comments) she didn’t even argue,” Jennings says.
And they're still talking about it. “You know kids always want the why of everything, and at her age, ‘People can be shady’ wasn’t going to cut it. We have more talking to do, but I told her that some people on the internet will try to trick little kids, that they manipulate them for bad reasons.”
Hope y'all have had your coffee this morning, because it's time to buckle in — Drake is being accused of some pretty serious baby mama drama on Instagram by a user who goes by Layla Lace.
Drake has been accused of being an absent baby daddy before — he was even sued by one woman who claimed he got her pregnant and then skipped out on her life. The difference this time? Lace has receipts. Oh, Lord, does she have receipts.
She claims Drake's friend DJ Spade reached out to her after he showed Drake one of her Instagram pics — Drake was apparently real into it so Spade helped get the two in communication. The two met after someone close to Drake arranged a flight for her to meet him in London (Layla Lace posted pictures to prove the correspondence happened, but those aren't pictured below because her Instagram is now private).
"So I guess still in this era this is the new thing that after you tell a dude you pregnant they stop answering they phone," she wrote alongside a series of photos, showing screenshots of text conversations between herself and Drake and medical records seeming to confirm she's pregnant. "One lesson i have learned out of this whole situation is to never be so naive when a guy disrespect you !!! Like you dont even have to do nothing wrong to this man its really unbelievable how he will just feed you with lies and hurt you for NO reason."
She continues on to tag Drake in the post, saying she tried to approach him privately about the alleged pregnancy, but that he stopped responding to her when she brought it up.
Later, Lace made her Instagram account private, but The Shade Room still has screen shots of her evidence.
The Shade Room Layla Lace baby Receipts against Drake
The Shade Room Layla Lace baby Receipts against Drake
After years of hiding it from teammates, former professional soccer player Shannon Boxx has become a vocal advocate of lupus awareness. The 39-year-old three-time Olympic gold medal winner is now speaking up about her condition and recently sat down with SheKnows and Dr. Tania Gonzalez-Rivera, a rheumatologist, to discuss the importance of knowing the symptoms of this potentially debilitating disease.
Lupus is an incurable chronic autoimmune disease that can affect and damage any part of the body, including skin, joints and/or internal organs.
Systemic lupus erythematosus is one of the most serious and common forms of lupus, affecting approximately 200,000 Americans — 90 percent of whom are women.
Lupus is three times more likely to affect African-American women and twice as likely to affect Asian-American women and Latinas than Caucasian women.
There's major drama in the world of Real Housewives of New York, and interestingly, it's not coming from one of the Housewives. In fact, the daughter of LuAnn D'Agostino (formerly de Lesseps), Victoria de Lesseps, was arrested on DWI charges on April 7.
According to Page Six, de Lesseps was arrested in the Hamptons — specifically Sag Harbor — earlier this month and "blew an alleged .15 at the station and was released without bail the next morning." As a reminder to us all, the legal limit is 0.08.
De Lesseps was reportedly hanging out at her Hamptons pad and decided to get behind the wheel despite having had a few drinks. I can see how she may have wanted to go for a joy ride with the brisk Hamptons air blowing through her car windows, but next time, she should probably order a Lyft. Buzzed driving is drunk driving, and that's never cool.
Page Six also reports that de Lesseps is due in court on May 5. Her attorney, Edward Burke Jr., is on record as saying, "I look forward to defending her vigorously in court." Oh boy.
HGTV ain't dumb. Now that they've capitalized on the divorce drama between Tarek and Christina El Moussa, the network is expanding its Flip or Flop family with the new spinoff, Flip or Flop Vegas, which is new to the network as of April.
But our new host couple, Aubrey and Bristol Marunde, is standing strong all on their own. These two have some serious staying potential. Here's what you need to know about the new reality TV power couple.
1. They know their shit
The couple has renovated over 140 homes in the Las Vegas area. Aubrey is the real star of the flipping business. She bought her first property at just 20 years old according to Life & Style.
bristol marunde instagram pic 3
bristol marunde instagram pic 3
Bristol is more the construction guy, while Aubrey takes on real estate.
The Marundes have two young sons — Kale, 6, and Kane, 3 — who hang out at the construction sites when they're not at school according to Bristol. Bristol himself grew up around construction sites since his dad was also a contractor.
bristol marunde instagram pic 2
bristol marunde instagram pic 2
3. Bristol is an MMA fighter
Though Bristol isn't giving up his MMA career for reality TV, he is putting it on hold for a bit.
bristol marunde instagram pic 4
bristol marunde instagram pic 4
He told People that he's "actually not allowed to fight during filming, but once we’re done, I’m going to schedule a fight."
4. They're interested in business, not fame
The couple previously appeared on the show The Ultimate Fighter and called the experience "grueling." Aubrey told People, "When [HGTV] first approached us, we weren’t into it. But once we met everyone at HGTV and the whole family there, we really just fell in love with the idea."
I think she means they fell in love with the paycheck. I kid, I kid... kind of.
5. They met at an MMA fight
The two met through friends at an MMA fight in 2009. Aubrey told HGTV it only took one coffee date for the two to realize they wanted to settle down and start a life together. They were married in 2015.
bristol marunde instagram pic 1
bristol marunde instagram pic 1
6. They're animal lovers to the extreme
The Marundes currently have two dogs, two parakeets, two turtles, four chickens and two fish according to HGTV. Aubrey explained, "Bristol is always bringing something home for the kids from job sites. Last week it was a huge lizard in a drywall bucket he found, and before that, a baby bunny."
bristol marunde instagram pic 5
bristol marunde instagram pic 5
bristol marunde instagram pic 6
bristol marunde instagram pic 6
She added, "We are definitely animal people, and our kids love animals, too. We try to teach them about responsibility, and there’s no better way than with pets."
Remember how Styles dated Taylor Swift and then allegedly broke her poor, innocent heart? Or what about when she wrote a few songs, like "Out of the Woods" and "Style," that people strongly suspected were about him despite having confirmation from Swift that only one song was about him? Finally, how could you forget that time she spent their romantic vacation alone on a boat while he kept partying?
Harry Styles and Taylor Swift breakup
Harry Styles and Taylor Swift breakup
Crucially, remember how he stayed quiet about it all, even when it was revealed that Swift is kind of a little bit (a lot) manipulative, especially when it comes to controlling her own image? Styles definitely got himself a lasting bad-boy reputation from that relationship, but now he's coming clean about his past.
I am surprised and delighted to be the one to tell you all that Styles is actually kind of great. He's sweet and sensitive and the things he has to say about his exes, including Swift, will melt your heart. Here goes.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Styles opened up about his past relationships: "I think: Relationships are hard, at any age. And adding in that you don't really understand exactly how it works when you're 18, trying to navigate all that stuff didn't make it easier. I mean, you're a little bit awkward to begin with. You're on a date with someone you really like. It should be that simple, right? It was a learning experience for sure. But at the heart of it — I just wanted it to be a normal date."
He also addressed Swift's songs that were allegedly written about him, saying, "I mean, I don't know if they're about me or not, but the issue is, she's so good, they're bloody everywhere. I write from my experiences; everyone does that. I'm lucky if everything [we went through] helped create those songs. That's what hits your heart. That's the stuff that's hardest to say, and it's the stuff I talk least about. That's the part that's about the two people. I'm never going to tell anybody everything."
Um, what? When did Styles turn into this mature, self-aware individual who is far more graceful at relationships than Swift has ever been? When did this happen? I was not excited about his solo album, but I sure am now.
According to the American Pregnancy Association, women should gain anywhere from 15 to 40 pounds throughout their pregnancy, depending on their individual BMI. This seems to be a widely understood side effect of the pregnancy journey.
But hearing how pregnancy changes the body and experiencing it for yourself are two completely different things. Sure, while beginning to put on weight, a dip in self-confidence is quite possible and even normal. But for a woman who is particularly conscious about her weight or has wrestled with body image issues in the past, severe panic can ensue as the number on the scale begins to climb. If obsession with baby weight begins to take precedence over health, a pregnant woman can actually develop an eating disorder without anyone knowing it.
In the hopes of bringing awareness to this very real yet rarely discussed issue, mother Vanessa Olson shared her story with SheKnows.
One mother’s battle
When Olson was 31, she and her husband were delighted to find out that she was expecting their first child. She was ready for the pregnancy journey — or so she thought.
Olson had struggled with body image for as long as she could remember. In high school and college, Olson often found herself undereating and overexercising. She would take laxatives when she felt she overindulged. She lied to family members about her behaviors to keep them at ease. Olson once spoke with a counselor who helped her become better acquainted with her unhealthy relationship with food, but Olson never categorized it as an eating disorder.
“I realized that it wasn’t just about how I looked, it was also about my need to be in control,” Olson said.
As you might have guessed, a human being growing inside of you while demanding obscure combinations of snack foods doesn’t really align with one’s desire for control. Pregnancy can quickly turn a consistent eating and exercise regimen on its head — and for some, this can be terrifying. It was for this reason that the newly pregnant Olson began to have old urges.
In the two weeks between her first and second pregnancy appointments, Olson was hospitalized for dehydration, during which she lost 6 pounds.
“It made a tiny voice speak up that I hadn't heard in a while, since before I met my husband, and it said, 'Huh. Maybe I can lose weight through this,'” Olson said.
This was the start of it all. She began to starve herself again.
Women who have suffered from eating disorders in the past are more likely to experience symptoms again after becoming pregnant. In fact, 60 to 70 percent of eating disorder sufferers will relapse during pregnancy.
Despite the fact that she was eating for two, Olson began averaging 600 to 800 calories a day. She lied to her family about when she was hungry and avoided social invitations that centered around a meal. Olson weighed herself incessantly and chose to withhold food if she gained even a 10th of a pound.
“Each doctor’s appointment, I both dreaded and looked forward to stepping on the scale. If I gained weight, I cried all the way home. If I lost weight, I was elated."
Olson stands with the 7 million women in America who have been diagnosed with eating disorders, cases of which peak during childbearing years. The more common of these disorders are anorexia nervosa, which involves starving the body of food and nutrients, and bulimia nervosa, which is bingeing on large quantities of food followed by a period of purging. But eating disorders in pregnant women can create other dangerous behaviors, such as avoiding social events, canceling doctor’s appointments and choosing to overexercise.
What effect could an eating disorder have on the baby’s health?
When she arrived at the hospital to have her baby, Olson weighed only one pound more than her first doctor’s appointment. Luckily, Olson’s daughter Alice was born healthy and strong, albeit 10 days late, and weighed 6.5 pounds. But this isn’t always the case. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, babies of mothers who suffered eating disorders during their pregnancy terms may have developmental and respiratory issues and be born with a low birth weight.
During pregnancy, the growing baby essentially takes whatever it needs from the mother, including any and all of her water and nutrients. If a mother doesn’t consume enough to feed herself and the baby, she will find herself becoming malnourished and dehydrated and may even develop heart irregularities.
Delivery can also be impacted by an eating disorder. Pregnant women with eating disorders are more likely to have more difficult labor, leading to more cases of Caesarian section births. Due to the bodily stress of malnutrition, women may find it hard or impossible to breastfeed their newborn.
So… why is this happening?
It could be due to false expectations. The media works to instill the idea that pregnancy can be glamorous (ahem, Beyoncé) and that gaining baby weight is optional. Celebrity women somehow fit into their skinniest of skinny jeans until Month 9 of their pregnancy, and just moments after giving birth, the stars seem to have their slim figures back and better than ever.
These images, which are plastered on magazine covers and across all social media platforms, can cause women to wrongfully believe that they too must have similar pregnancies. This may lead pregnant mothers to engage in excessive dieting and exercise.
“If we weren't bombarded with images of what we should look like, I might never have started down this path in the first place,” Olson told SheKnows. “I might never have used food as a way to control my life.”
The early symptoms of eating disorders in pregnant women oftentimes go unnoticed. In Olson’s case, her eating disorder continued unquestioned for seven months. After repeated appointments of Olson losing weight, her doctor finally spoke up. This leaves us wondering: Why didn’t her doctor step in earlier?
According to Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, the Eating Recovery Center’s chief clinical officer and medical director of child and adolescent services, symptoms of eating disorders may be difficult for even the most alert clinician to identify on their own.
“Any pregnant woman can experience nausea and vomiting,” Bermudez told SheKnows. “Because it’s a time when weight gain is expected, weight loss may not be a marker of eating disorder behavior, but rather insufficient weight gain in timing with the pregnancy.”
The great variation in the health and physical changes within every woman’s pregnancy could account for this time lag, but it truly comes down to communication with one’s obstetrician.
There are certainly medical and psychiatric resources available to pregnant women who are experiencing these detrimental thoughts and behaviors, but women are often fearful of talking about or embarrassed to confide in someone about their eating habits. Treatment cannot begin unless a woman is willing to reveal her internal struggle to family, friends or medical professionals.
What can be done for pregnant mothers in this situation?
“For women who have struggled with eating disorders in the past, a pregnancy is a time when special attention should be paid to their psychological well-being and physical health,” Bermudez said. “Seeking support during this time may be wise.”
After sharing her struggles with her doctor, Olson was referred to a psychiatrist. Together, they worked to uncover and truly understand the root of her eating issues: generalized anxiety disorder. Through these difficult discussions, Olson was able to begin to deal with her anxiety in a healthy way and begin to take steps toward recovery.
“I could ride in cars without panic attacks. I could see people. I could get dressed without becoming overwhelmed with the size of my growing belly. I was able to stop asking my husband if he loved me and if he still thought I was sexy,” Olson recalled.
These conversations were not easy for Olson; she didn’t feel a connection with every doctor, and family members didn’t always know what to say. But the decision to communicate created a better relationship with her baby and worked to preserve her positive eating habits into the future.
“I had a girl, and I desperately wanted to not pass on or model any of these behaviors to her,” Olson told SheKnows. “When I look at Alice's sweet, innocent face, I know that I have to be that strong, radiant woman for her and for all the girls in her generation. That's what we need to do now.”
People magazine is reporting that the former fitness guru, now 68 years old, has been hospitalized for "severe indigestion" that was interfering with his ability to eat.
"Richard Simmons was hospitalized on Monday at an undisclosed location in California," Simmons' manager, Richard Catalano, reported in a statement to ABC News. "After a few days of battling severe indigestion and discomfort while eating, we agreed it was best for him to seek treatment. He’s already feeling better and is expected to make a full recovery."
Simmons has been out of the public eye for about three years, and his abrupt departure into solitude sparked rumors about his health. More recently, the podcast Missing Richard Simmons, hosted by one of Simmons' former workout class attendees, made headlines for a variety of wild claims about his whereabouts, including that he was being held hostage by his housekeeper.
For his part, Simmons has mostly stayed out of the rumor mill, but his family has assured reporters that his health is fine and that he just needed some time to himself to recover from surgery on his knee. "My brother is fine," Simmons' 70-year-old brother, Lenny Simmons, told People last month. "He’s not sick. There’s nothing medically wrong with him at all. After 40-some odd years, he just decided that he wants to rest. He’s 68 years old now and he’s in good health, but he just wants time for himself."
Catalano basically said the same thing. "He was ready to quiet down is what he’s told me, and it doesn’t mean he’s done, but for now, he’s enjoying the time away from the public," he explained.
Still, this recent hospitalization for Simmons is bound to spark new rumors. Is it possible that Simmons is sick with something more serious, and this is his manager's attempt to cover it up? We sure hope not.
Have you ever second-guessed whether you've chosen the best photos for your social media and dating profiles? Unless you have way-above-average self-confidence, the answer is probably yes. Well, we have good and bad news: The bad news is, most of us suck at picking out the photo that puts our best face forward. The good news is that enlisting the help of a stranger to do so can fix the problem, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of New South Wales Sydney in Australia discovered that when it comes to choosing the most attractive version of ourselves, it might be wise to let other people choose for us. In the study, researchers asked 102 students to select two out of 12 photos of their own face that they were most or least likely to use as a profile picture for social networks, dating sites and professional networks like Facebook, Match and LinkedIn.
Researchers then showed these images to strangers and asked them to rate how attractive, trustworthy, dominant, confident or competent the person in the photos appeared. What they found: People selected images of themselves that gave worse first impressions than images selected by strangers. In other words, the random strangers picked better pictures of the students than the students did of themselves.
"Our findings suggest that people make poor choices when selecting flattering images of themselves for online profile pictures, which affects other people's perception of them," says lead author Dr. David White.
So, what gives? It seems we're all so used to the sight of our own mug that we have trouble seeing how it changes — for better or worse — from one image to the next. “Familiarity appears to make it harder to choose the specific shot that best portrays us,” says White.
White says more research is needed to fully understand this phenomenon, but in the meantime, I dare you to ask the next stranger you see which profile photo you should use for your Bumble account... hey, it might land you your next date!
The old band is getting back together — Maksim Chmerkovskiy is all healed up and headed back to reclaim his Dancing with the Stars partner Heather Morris.
Chmerkovskiy and Morris were rehearsing in late March when Chmerkovskiy suffered a calf injury that left him sidelined for weeks. But during the April 17 episode of DWTS, he announced that he would make his return the following week.
While Chmerkovskiy has been healing up, Morris has been dancing with troupe member Alan Bersten, and Chmerkovskiy has clearly been jealous of their obvious chemistry as partners, because he "fired" Bersten when he announced his return.
"Alan's officially fired!" he said on the show after Bersten and Morris performed. "I'm taking over as of tonight."
While for a lot of competitors, switching partners several times during the season might throw off their rhythm, for Morris, the handicap probably only levels the playing field since she's already such an accomplished dancer (she was a background dancer for Beyoncé once, you guys. How is this even fair?).
Chmerkovskiy has been watching Morris' performances from the sidelines until now as well as updating fans on his healing progress via social media. He underwent surgery to repair his torn calf muscle late last month, and on April 1, updated fans from the hospital.
Maks Chmerkovskiy hospital update post calf surgery
Maks Chmerkovskiy hospital update post calf surgery
"Therapy day 3 post calf muscle tear, progress check," he wrote alongside a photo of himself walking the hospital hallways.
Just after his surgery he also appeared on Good Morning America where he was still confident that he and Morris could land the Mirror Ball trophy despite their setbacks.
"I still feel like we have a chance," he said at the time. "[Morris deserves] it, and I want to give you 150 percent effort and be as physically active as I was at my best when nothing hurt. I want to come back and win."
One of the greatest benefits of the feminist movement is how it has empowered women to take on formerly male-dominated professions and feel confident embodying typically "male" attributes like ambition, assertiveness and physical strength. Women are now routinely recognized for breaking gender barriers and taking on careers in predominantly male professions and acting in a way which just a few decades ago would have been judged as unseemly for a woman.
But, perhaps predictably, the reverse has not occurred.
Men still rarely venture into historically female professions like nursing and social work; men still get called pussies for displaying emotions other than anger or happiness, and while women have (slowly, gradually) been empowered to recognize and nurture the stronger, bolder, louder sides of themselves, men are still pressured to keep the vulnerable, nurturing and communicative sides of themselves hidden and small.
Harry Styles is no stranger to chipping away at this toxic view of masculinity. His new album cover is so hot because it's his latest example of that.
The cover is a stark departure from that of most straight solo male artists. There's no black and white grittiness, no shadowed abs, no intense dead-on stare.
Instead, the cover depicts Styles sitting in pink water, turned away from the viewer and displaying his bare back in a pose that reads as incredibly vulnerable. Wet hair curls around the nape of his neck and water droplets cling to his back. Delicate silver chains are strung loosely around his neck, his head is in his hands, the lighting is soft.
Viewed through the lens of our gendered culture, the effect is undeniably feminine.
This isn't the first time Styles has ignored gender stereotypes — he's often tied his hair up in ponytails and topknots, worn nail polish and been a staunch defender of one of the most maligned female groups — teenage girls. And yes, this could be simple business acumen given that teen girls make up a good portion of his fans — a leftover from his One Direction days — but this quote seems to suggest something different.
Harry Styles Feminist2
Harry Styles Feminist2
These aren't the words of a man who wants to play down the age and gender of his fan base or express a desire to move onto a more "credible" group. Styles takes offense at the implications of the question; the perceived lack of intelligence and musical taste of young women. He fights back at the image of vapid, ditzy creatures whose opinions are worth somehow less than others.
The back of his album strikes the same note as the cover.
Harry Styles Feminist3
Harry Styles Feminist3
Submerged this time up to his chin in the pink water, Styles' eyes are closed. Flowers float in the water around him.
It's a fitting image for a new version of masculinity, attempting to navigate the same balance between strong and soft that women have been working at for decades. Unafraid of being tainted by femininity. Unworried about connotations around feminine colors, feminine symbols, typically female imagery.
At the moment, I think Harry Styles is one of my favorite feminists.
In modern U.S. births, few babies are born this way. There's a reason: Many doctors and midwives break the mother's amniotic sac ("breaking the water") to help a mother's labor progress more quickly.
Many cultures hail the appearance of a caul as a sign of good luck for the baby — and associate a caul with the birth of a prophet or healer. No pressure, kid. And get this: Roman midwives occasionally swiped cauls and then sold them for a pretty sum to, of all people, lawyers ("First, let's caul all the lawyers!"). Roman lawyers believed that having a caul (instead of a briefcase, we're assuming) would assure they won cases. That belief had such traction, it made its way to England, Denmark and Iceland, weirdly enough.
Other cultures were certain a caul would cure diseases like malaria. In Belgium, the baby would only be lucky if some nice relative got around to burying the caul in a field. And coal miners (caul miners, heh! We still got it!) liked to bring their lucky cauls with them to ward off terrible explosions, fires or cave-ins. Like ya do.
The stripping (or breaking) of the amniotic sac isn't necessary for labor to progress. The Sacred Birth South Africa page states, “Please note that as with many other procedures, this too is totally unnecessary and best left alone... it WILL break all by itself when the time is right."
True story. But in the moment, we would have done anything to speed up labor — caul be damned. (Sorry, baby. You probably wouldn't have wanted to be an anointed prophet anyway, trust us. Graphic design and accounting are way easier life paths.)
Everyone has their own way of dealing with a breakup. Olivia Munn, who just split from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers after three years of dating, seems to have adopted the ever-popular scorched earth approach.
Sources close to Munn say she's doing well after the split and that she "is not communicating with Aaron as much as he would like." The insider added, "She feels like distance is best at this time."
That's hardly surprising. While Munn and Rodgers were together for years, their relationship seemed to come with a fair amount of drama — it's been heavily rumored for all three years that Munn was the driving force behind Rodgers' estrangement from his family. With that kind of baggage in the relationship, there's bound to be some during the breakup. Munn is smart to draw a hard line in cutting Rodgers out, at least for now.
It probably only makes it easier that the split wasn't even unexpected.
"Olivia knew that the relationship was on the rocks the past few months," the insider said. "It didn't feel good anymore, and they should have split up a few months ago. They were holding on to this idea of their relationship, even though they knew a breakup was bound to happen."
Still, while Munn was reportedly the one to initiate the breakup, it's Rodgers who's already moving on.
"The line of women he can choose from is endless, but he is a pretty picky dude, especially at the level he's at now," a source explained.
